From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Jun 13 17:57: 8 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from ns1.hutchtel.net (ns1.hutchtel.net [206.9.112.100]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6DD4737BE51 for ; Tue, 13 Jun 2000 17:57:05 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jpaetzel@hutchtel.net) Received: from hairy (hutch-157.hutchtel.net [206.10.67.57]) by ns1.hutchtel.net (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id TAA25887; Tue, 13 Jun 2000 19:57:01 -0500 (CDT) From: "Josh Paetzel" To: "Jim Thomson" , Subject: RE: Hardware requirements Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 19:58:51 -0500 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) In-Reply-To: <000501bfd595$298d6940$e4c4c2d0@jmtpiint4> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Importance: Normal Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Jim Thomson > Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 7:12 PM > To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Hardware requirements > > > My main interest right now is learning to use Linux to implement a DSL > firewall. I'm just now learning web stuff and am currently using > PII 400/NT4 > Workstation and Pentium Pro 200/NT4 Server. I'm interested in setting up a > Linux box as firewall/router. I've been told it can be done om a > 486, single > floppy system. > > I have an old Dell 486SX but don't see any hardware notes on using a 486. > Also didn't see anything on required hard disk space if I want to load the > full OS. > Most of us here don't know a ton about Linux. I am sure there are some Linux specific mailing lists out there. (Although I don't know or care what they are. :) If you were going to run FreeBSD I would tell you that it would run just fine as a router on a 486sx. A 200 meg hard drive should be sufficient to get 3.4 or 4.0 working as a router, although you won't have room for much else. A full install of everything will eat up about 600 megs of disk space. I usually don't try a full install unless I have about 1 gig available...The Ports collection is too tempting for me. > If I can't use this 486 machine, I'll probably build me a new workstation, > use the Pro for the firewall, and convert my current workstation to the > server. I'd like to save the $1200, if possible, while learning and then > apply it to upgrading the entire system when I get it all working. > > Is there a decent site for using a 486 in this manner? Once again, if you are going to use FreeBSD, I would recommend www.freebsd.org as a starting point. You can access the handbook and FAQ from there along with other documentation. I have a friend who > says he can set it up for me, but I'd like to get into Linux and > my approach > has always been to learn by doing. > If you have no familiarity with Unix you are in for a rocky road. (Keep your friends phone number close at hand) I have been down it and you really need to be ready to do some homework. I don't mean to discourage you, its just that Unix is a large complicated OS that is completely different from what you are using now. (Let's just say that you won't be doing any pointing and clicking when you get stuck.) > Josh To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message